We caught up with the legendary Tim Harrower as he was gearing up for SND STL and wanted to know a little about what it’s like to be him — and what’s on his mind heading into his big double-header appearances at the workshop…

STEVE DORSEY: You’ve taught all over the country — high school and college student, and lots of pros too — what’s the most common question people fail to ask you?

HARROWER: The most common question nobody ever asks me is, “Where are the bathrooms?” That’s probably because most buildings have signs that say where the bathrooms are.

DORSEY: Desert island disc time: You’re stranded and you can only receive one newspaper for the rest of your life (don’t look too deeply at the logic in this question, please, I mean, I KNOW the news carrier would be able to rescue you, but this is theoretical, right?)… anyway, which paper and why?

HARROWER: If I were stranded on a desert island, I would obviously need a daily newspaper to provide fresh bedding material and fuel for my smoke signal. So I would want the biggest possible newspaper — of course, that would be The Miami News, which holds the record for the largest page-count of all time: a 508-page edition published back in 1925. (Though I think they may have downsized since then.)

DORSEY: Ever been to the Lou (St Louis) before? What are you most looking forward to, aside from the conference?

HARROWER: My old college roommate — I’ll call him “Grant” — now lives in St. Louis. When we meet for dinner, we’ll reminisce about those crazy times, right before I got married, where the three of us shared an apartment: Grant, my fiancee and me. And this time, if he fails to surrender the videos, I will have him whacked. Seriously.

DORSEY: You’re going to emcee The Big SND Show this year. Folks are psyched. I hear some groupies stood in line overnight just for tickets. (No, not really, we’ll sell tickets right up until the doors open, but play along please)… Can you tip your hand at all? What can we expect? What are YOU excited about?

HARROWER: I’m going to try something I’ve always fantasized about, but I’ve never seen anyone actually do — at least, not at an SND banquet. It’s the kind of thing I would love to watch someone ELSE do. But since nobody else is crazy enough to try it, I’ve got to cowboy up.

I don’t mean to sound cryptic, but two words keep playing in the back of my mind when I think about next Saturday night. And those two words are: “career-ender.”

DORSEY: Seriously, once and for all, what IS your favorite font?*

HARROWER: Nowadays, I use only D’Addario Extra Light. Oh, wait… those are guitar strings.